The Future of the DBA: Adapting to a New World of IT

June 2014

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The Future of DBA: Adapting to a New World of IT

This presentation reviews the forces, trends and analyst research that is shaping the changing role of the DBA, along with the

new skills required from DBAs in the current IT market

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3 Recent Trends in the IT World

1. Open Source

Instead of using Oracle and other expensive databases, organizations have discovered they could achieve the same goals with open source projects such as Linux and MySQL.

2. Cloud

Since the advent of the cloud, most organizations rarely invest in expensive on-premises hardware. This has been replaced with applications and infrastructure on demand

3. NoSQL

An easy and scalable database solution. One of the main differentiation between NoSQL and MySQL is NoSQL’s schema-less nature. With MySQL, the application always needs to be aware of the data model of the schema

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The Two Types of DBAs

• Infrastructure DBA (iDBA) — responsible for managing and administering the database

• Applicative DBA (aDBA) — responsible for ensuring the database knows how to speak with the application

The world of cloud-based application platforms has brought significant changes to these DBA roles…

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From Then to Now – The iDBA Role

Then: On-premises• Support the infrastructure and ensure operations ran smoothly.

• Responsible for the data’s integrity, availability, and reliability — while making sure the machines worked efficiently 24/7.

• Ensure backup and recovery — no small responsibility

Today: With the cloud • iDBAs employed by the cloud service providers

• With the private cloud, the iDBA became the hand that delivers database as a service (DBaaS) dictating the new policy, where the administration tasks are now automated and standardized

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From Then to Now – The aDBA Role

Then: On-premises• Focused and is the foremost authority on data in the context of

application development.

• The main goal of the aDBA was (and still is) to make the database optimal for the application, and conversely make the application congruent with the database

Today: With the cloud • The aDBA role hasn’t really changed much.

• Remain the advisors of the app, and guide R&D through the right course of action when writing code and queries. The major

• Consolidated to include some iDBA aspects

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The Data Champion

• Today, the traditional separation between the application stack and the infrastructure layer blurred

and the aDBA is evolving into an aDBA / iDBA hybrid – the Data Champion

• With the onset of Agile, DBAs need to– Take quick decisions on production – Be Flexible – Be innovative– Have complete responsibility on production

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NoSQL, DevOps and The DBA Challenge

• DBAs make up only 5.5% of NoSQL users.• Gartner’s conclusion that “DBAs are not part of the

NoSQL conversation” seems accurate

http://blogs.gartner.com/nick-heudecker/nosql-shouldnt-mean-nodba/

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NoSQL, DevOps and The DBA Challenge

• With the onset of DevOps-type roles, the System Administrator and R&D positions have changed in order to adapt to the new circumstance.

• It is clear that due to the game changing nature of NoSQL, the DBA team must undergo similar changes.

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The NoSQL Misconception

There is a common misconception that NoSQL will render the DBA position irrelevant.

This could not be farther from the truth:

“DBAs, intentionally or not, are being eliminated from a rapidly growing area of information management. Application developers may be getting what they want from NoSQL now, but cutting out the primary data stewards will result in long-term data quality and information governance challenges for the larger enterprise.”

http://blogs.gartner.com/nick-heudecker/nosql-shouldnt-mean-nodba/

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DevOps and The NoSQL Misconception

• DevOps are the “cool” cloud guys who promote the trendy NoSQL revolution, in which the world is schema-less and much easier to maintain, implying that DBAs are no longer required.

• The fact remains that data is the most significant IT asset for any organization.

• There will always be a need for experts who know how to maintain, backup, and secure data. Wherever there is data there should be a database expert.

• The DevOps movement should not be about lack of responsibility; but rather about engagement and communication between the various software development parties.

• Developers, DevOps and Ops must recognize that the database expert is crucial to the entire process.

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The Future of DBAs

• The fast-paced developments of the IT world are causing significant changes to the traditional DBA role. In order to remain relevant, the DBA position must adapt to the changing times.

• The introduction of the Data Champion has been an excellent start to the evolution of the DBA role into a profession suited for the modern environment.

• The next step of DBAs must be coming to terms with the impact of NoSQL, and adapting accordingly. As Gartner so eloquently wrote: “NoSQL doesn’t mean NoDBA.”

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